MLB.com's Carrie Muskat has been covering Major League Baseball since 1981 and is the author of "Banks to Sandberg to Grace: Five Decades of Love and Frustration with the Cubs." You can follow her on Twitter @CarrieMuskat. Here, she blogs about the Cubs.

Bradley in lineup

Rather than give Milton Bradley a day off on Friday, the outfielder was in the Cubs’ lineup vs. the White Sox and Jose Contreras.

“I’ve got him in there today and hopefully he gets hot with the bat,” Lou Piniella said.

Bradley was 4-for-12 lifetime vs. Contreras with one homer and three RBIs. Instead, Ryan Theriot was given Friday off.

Hitting coach Von Joshua has spent a lot of time with Bradley, specifically on his swing from the left hand side. He’s batting .205 against right-handed pitchers, and .327 against lefties.

“Hopefully, he gets hot with the bat and starts swinging the way we expected him to,” Piniella said.

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